Microelectronic manufacturing techniques have led to the miniaturization of numerous devices. Mobile phones, personal digital assistant devices, and digital cameras are very common examples of the miniaturization trend.
One device that has not seen the advantage of microelectronic manufacturing techniques is the printer. Commercially available printers are large compared to many of the devices they could support. For instance, it is impractical to carry a color printer for the purpose of instantly printing photographs taken with known compact digital cameras.
A compact printhead has been described in co-pending United States Patent Applications filed simultaneously to the present application and hereby incorporated by cross reference:
USSNTitle09/575,152Fluidic seal for an ink jet nozzle assembly6,428,133Ink jet printhead having a moving nozzle with anexternally arranged actuator6,526,658Method of manufacture of an ink jet printhead havinga moving nozzle with an externally arranged actuator6,328,417Ink jet printhead nozzle array6,390,591Nozzle guard for an ink jet printhead